Advance in Time

OK, so I guess it's time for an analytic blog. I feel as though in the last blogs I've been sort of talking about myself and how I've associated my life with the novels that we've been reading, so I guess that it is time for a nerdy blog.

Here it goes...

We see that in the Dead Family there is an obsession with the past. The past is what haunts the characters. Whether it's Macon Jr.'s father's death or Ruth's abuse when she was young, it is this fear or apprehension regarding the past that makes the characters cause suffering in their present lives. Macon Jr. told Milkman on page 73 about how there are reasons for the anger that he feels towards Ruth. Instead of moving forward with their lives, characters like Macon Jr. dwell on the past and fail to look into the future.

It is because of this that Morrison writes about how when Milkman was walking in the street to Guitar's house, Milkman "closed his eyes and then opened them"(78) and realized that everyone was going the opposite way that he was going. This happened after Milkman thinks about his past and what it means for him in the present. He says to himself, "And how did I forget that? And why?" (78) after he remembers how his mother breast-fed beyond infancy. The fact that Milkman opens his eyes and he is going against the flow of everyone on the street is clearly indicative that Morrison is making his situation be a metaphor for what he is actually doing internally. He is going against what his parents have done their whole lives and is actually looking forward into his future by analyzing his past. This is very different than Ruth or Macon Jr. who fail to discuss or analyze the past that has affected and ultimately scarred their lives.

Ok, that was dull, now I want to post this smart little quote I heard on some documentary about how "Humans were the first creatures that created the notion of a future." I don't remember who said it or what the exact words were but I remember that it talked about how the idea of future is unique to the human mind. Interesting, no? Ok. I'm going to shut up now. Ok, bye.